The 2018 Stagecoach put the brakes on a month of music festivals Sunday, just as it was really getting rolling.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the mostly Southern music at Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival didn't go unnoticed by a Southern California expatriate band, Runaway June, playing to a cheering crowd in the afternoon sun.

“And they say California doesn’t like country music!” said Hannah Mulholland, a Los Angeles native who started the band in Nashville with two other female vocalists.

This was the day Garth Brooks fans had been waiting for. Kim Trammell of Menifee, attending her eighth Stagecoach festival, said Brooks’ 9:15 p.m. set was, “going to be the highlight of my last 10 years.”

It appeared it might be another career highlight for Brooks, too. He said at a press conference during the performances of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and Brett Young that Stagecoach “is the coolest outdoor festival there is.

“I will tell you this,” he said. “This kind of set-up is an artist’s dream. Because what you’re gonna do is, you’re gonna have a fork in both hands and you’re just going to start eating just as fast as you can. It’s going to be great. They have a curfew, they have a time limit, but for what these people have been through the last three days we’re going to be as long as they want us to be.”

This Stagecoach provided a smorgasbord of entertainment, including opportunities to drive Toyota trucks, sample Esteé Lauder makeup and consume vast quantities of beer and barbecued meat. It also provided more of the kind of music the crowd of roughly 75,000 people wanted to see, while still offering a menu of niche country music.

People were still buzzing about Urban's "Stagecoach moment" was he joined on stage by the Brothers Osborne and Dwight Yoakam for a rendition of Yoakam’s “Fast as You.” It gave Urban a chance to show off his lead guitar skills while his wife, fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, watched from the wings.

Trammel called it “epic.” Barrajas said it had everyone in her extended family buzzing.

“Keith Urban definitely pleasantly surprised me,” Barrajas said. “That was my favorite part. It felt like guys up there having a good jam session and we were lucky enough to be there.”

Sunday also brought several Stagecoach moments before Brooks took the stage with his wife, fellow country star, Trisha Yearwood.

Nelson dedicated his Palomino set to his father, Willie Nelson who was turning 85. It was exactly one year after the Nelsons celebrated Willie's birthday at Stagecoach, where Lukas almost stole the show with a performance of "It's Flooding Down in Texas.".

Fans could hear tinges of Willie’s voice and guitar-playing in Lukas' performance, but mostly, they could feel his father’s humanity as he played original songs with an honesty all his own.

He opened with a new song, called “Turn Off the News (and build a garden),” which could have been trite, except he turned it into a jam reflecting his emotions about the media and the environment. Subsequent songs, including “Entirely Different Stars,” “Die Alone,” “Four Letter Word” and “Fool Me Once,” had fun but caustic elements, not unlike another guy he plays for, Neil Young, or family friend Bob Dylan. But he also gave a powerful performance, with raised fist, of “Something Real.” He ended his set by lighting a marijuana joint from his father’s Willie’s Reserve and said, “This is for you, Dad.”

The head of steam Stagecoach began building Saturday evening, following strong performances by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Yoakam, and balladeer Kacey Musgraves, didn’t grind to a halt after Urban finished his set around midnight.

Ashley McBryde and Lillie Mae were both killing it simultaneously at 1:30 p.m. on the intimate Toyota Music Den Stage and the Palomino, respectively. McBryde, whose recent debut album, “Girl Going Nowhere,” has been called the “biggest debut by a solo country artist this year,” revealed a soaring voice, great storytelling skills and stand-up comedy skills in an acoustic set. Then she returned with her band on the SiriusXM Spotlight Stage and brought a plugged-in ferocity for a larger crowd.

Conversely, fiddler Lillie Mae went electric with her family band in the Palomino, and then returned with a sister on violin and a brother on acoustic guitar to give the festival a much-needed fix of “mountain music” with exceptional finger-picking.

Paul Cauthen, playing in a mostly empty Palomino tent around 3 p.m., brought a power reminiscent of the late Waylon Jennings.

Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, 79 and looking frail, was introduced by cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell as “a real legend” and his charisma and hits, including “Carefree Highway” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” early on, resonated with a crowd thrilled to see him.

The festival didn’t sell out, but a Goldenvoice spokesperson said the 75,000 attendance figure was a record, thanks to the amended city permit that allows up to 85,00 fans and workers.

Shad Powers contributed to this story. Bruce Fessier can be contacted at bruce.fessier@desertsun.com